Sei Shōnagon
(Edo period)]] (1788–1878)]] Sei Shōnagon (清少納言), (c. 966-1017) was a Japanese author and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi/Empress Sadako around the year 1000 during the middle Heian Period, and is best known as the author of The Pillow Book (枕草子 makura no sōshi). Biography Sei Shōnagon's actual given name is not known. It was the custom among aristocrats in those days to call a court lady (女房''nyōbō'') by a combined appellative taken from a) her clan name and b) some court office belonging either to her or some close relative. Sei (清) thus derives from the Kiyohara (清原) clan, while Shōnagon was a government post. It is unknown which of her relatives held the post of shōnagon. Her actual name has been a topic of debate among scholars, who generally favor Kiyohara Nagiko (清原 諾子) as a likely possibility. Little is known about her life except what is said in her writings. She was the daughter of Kiyohara no Motosuke, a scholar and famous waka poet. Her grandfather Kiyohara no Fukayabu was also a well-known waka poet. They were middle-ranking courtiers and had difficulties, since they were never granted a revenue-producing court office. She married Tachibana Norimitsu at the age of 16, and gave birth to one son. Afterwards, she remarried to Fujiwara-Muneyo, and gave birth to a daughter. At age 27, when she began to serve the Empress Teishi, consort of Emperor Ichijō, she was supposedly divorced. She was fascinated by the young and beautiful Empress, who was only in her teens when they met. Shōnagon achieved fame through her work The Pillow Book, a collection of lists, gossip, poetry, observations, complaints and anything else she found of interest during her years in the court. In The Pillow Book, Shōnagon reports the troubles which Empress Teishi had after her father died and when Regent Fujiwara no Michinaga made one of his daughters another consort of the Emperor Ichijō. Because of the risk of fire, the Imperial family did not, at that time, live in the Heian Palace. Empress Teishi resided in a part of Chūgushiki, the Bureau of Serving the (Middle) Empress. Sei refers to the death of her patroness, who died in childbirth in 1000, with refined lightheartedness and implies that doing so was not difficult for her. To have treated the subject in a more passionate way would have been considered unstylish. Her writing depicts the court of the young Empress as full of an elegant and merry atmosphere. There are no details about Shōnagon's life after the death of the Empress, though The Pillow Book is thought to have been finished sometime between 1001 and 1010. One story has Shōnagon living out her twilight years in poverty, but this is probably a legend spread by those who disapproved of her alleged promiscuity. Shōnagon is also known for her rivalry with her contemporary writer and court lady Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote The Tale of Genji and served the Empress Shoshi, second consort of the Emperor Ichijō. Murasaki Shikibu wrote about Shōnagon - somewhat scathingly, though conceding Shōnagon's literary gifts - in her diary, The Murasaki Shikibu Diary. Notes * See also * The Pillow Book, a 1996 film by Peter Greenaway inspired by Shōnagon's work. External links * Britannica | Sei Shonagon * The Lists of a Lady-in-Waiting: A Portrait of the Author of The Pillow Book Category:Japanese writers Category:Japanese women writers Category:Japanese poets Category:Japanese diarists Category:965 births Category:1010s deaths Category:Women of medieval Japan Category:11th-century women writers Category:People of Heian period Japan Category:Ladies-in-waiting bg:Сей Шонагон cy:Sei Shōnagon de:Sei Shōnagon es:Sei Shōnagon eu:Sei Shōnagon fr:Sei Shōnagon ko:세이 쇼나곤 it:Sei Shōnagon ka:სეი სიონაგონი la:Sei Shonagon hu:Szei Sónagon nl:Sei Shonagon ja:清少納言 ro:Sei Shonagon ru:Сэй Сёнагон fi:Sei Shōnagon th:เซ โชนะงน tr:Sei Şonagon uk:Сей Сьонаґон zh:清少納言